


Fury

by Made_of_Stars



Category: Cobra Kai (Web Series)
Genre: Angst, Canon-Typical Violence, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Explicit Language, Friends to Lovers, Friendship, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Mild Sexual Content, Mildly Dubious Consent, Mystery, Possessive Behavior, Possessive Hawk, Protective Hawk, Strained Friendships, Strained Relationships, Teenage Drama, Threats of Violence
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-02
Updated: 2021-02-24
Packaged: 2021-03-13 20:54:21
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 8,875
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29159985
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Made_of_Stars/pseuds/Made_of_Stars
Summary: During the summer following the All Valley tournament a Karate Championship with higher stakes looms, and the Cobra Kai dojo and those attached to it are repeatedly harassed by a mysterious figure dressed in black.  When Demetri suddenly becomes the harasser’s main target, a downward spiraling Hawk is determined to both use the opportunity to finally convince his oldest friend to join Cobra Kai, and to find and stop (violently, with hisfists) the mysterious menace.
Relationships: Demetri & Eli "Hawk" Moskowitz, Demetri/Eli "Hawk" Moskowitz
Comments: 22
Kudos: 42





	1. Chapter 1

**I don’t care what you thought before**

**I’ll be there anytime you call**

**Don’t you ever call another**

**No need to call another – Rescue Me, OneRepublic**

_Fuck. This. Shit._

Hawk took another long swig of the drink he was holding, draining it, and crumpled the red plastic cup in his fist before launching it at the tall trash can that was tucked away between the fridge and the wall.

He missed, and the smashed cup clattered to the kitchen floor.

Whatever. Hawk was so over this shit, was so over this sorry excuse for a party. When Aisha had invited all of Cobra Kai (except for Sensei of course, who hadn’t joined them at the restaurant) back to her house after their victory nachos for celebratory booze and music because her dad and mom were gone on some business trip, it had sounded like a good idea. But now the alcohol was slightly too bitter on his tongue, and the music was slightly too loud, and he couldn’t help but think as he stepped out of the kitchen and into the living room where some of his teammates and a few other random kids from school who had shown up were sprawled across the couch, or the couple of armchairs, or the floor (some were gone to the world and some were chatting or laughing or bobbing to the music or kissing) that nothing had really changed.

Sure, they had kicked the absolute crap out of all of those other karate dojos and competitors, but then…why weren’t things more epic now, more awesome? Why instead of feeling like a badass winner did he feel nervous, anxious like he was vibrating with a strange energy and trapped inside of his own skin?

Why were they all still the same nerdy, sad-looking kids? Just drunk at the moment, just high off of their win that afternoon, just higher in the pecking order at school now but…

_What do you want, dumbass? A freaking parade?_

He snorted. It was the buzz, the alcohol at work in his body…it was making him maudlin.

Life _was_ much better than it had been for them all months before. The kids who had bullied them were now afraid of them, just a few nights previous at the Canyon Hawk himself had had the pleasure of making out with the hippy-dippy bombshell that was Moon (something he wouldn’t have thought was possible or even worth fantasizing about before Cobra Kai), and (possibly best of all) he now sported a sweet mohawk and a corresponding kickass tattoo on his back. 

Life was great.

It was just the now waning party that sucked. And _that_ was only because he wasn’t drunk enough, like the other kids who were passed out blissfully. It was only because Moon wasn’t at the party with him because she had left for home right after the tournament for some family event, so now he had no one to make out with.

He was happy now. They’d won. 

No. He was more than happy. Better than happy. He was Cobra Kai.

Steadfastly ignoring how corny that line sounded, even just inside of his own head, Hawk walked over to where Demetri and Miguel were huddled right outside of the main living room, in the small and brightly lit tiled entryway to the home.

They were on the wicker bench, which was pushed flush against the wall, that guests were supposed to use to take off their dirty shoes. Miguel had a bottle of beer in his hand and appeared to be mumbling to the thin air, in the general direction of the closed front door. Demetri was leaning with his back against the wall, too long legs stretched out in front of him, taking up too much space in the small area. The nerd was staring at his phone screen.

Hawk kicked the tall brunette’s shoe, probably a little too hard, to get his attention.

“Hey,” came the immediate objection, but the other teen did sit up. He slid his legs back against the bench so he wasn’t sprawled so indecently anymore. “What? What do you want? Can we go now?”

Hawk smirked at him. They had been friends for a long time, and like any typical pair of friends, they had occasionally given each other a hard time. Only for fun, not to really hurt. Just little things.

This moment felt like that. Like “old times”. Because now whenever Hawk screwed with Demetri, no matter how slightly, he usually got a vulnerable and hurt sort of look in return that he didn’t like. A cautious look that made his throat tighten and his back tense, that made him feel angry.

But now, Demetri just looked sleepy. He slipped his phone into his pocket and stretched, scrawny arms above his head. 

“Round everyone up. Let’s go,” said Hawk, because he had been the one to give Demetri and a few of the other teens a lift to the party, and he was so fucking ready to get out of there now.

“Um.” Demetri turned his head to look at Miguel. The drunk-off-his-ass teen was now leaning back against the wall, occasionally mumbling what sounded like Sam’s name. 

_Holy shit._

Hawk knew the guy was the actual All Valley champion, but…he could also be a total _pussy_ sometimes. 

“I don’t know,” commented Demetri as he gave Miguel what he probably thought was a comforting pat on the shoulder but that was actually really awkward looking. “I don’t think we should take him home like this, right?” He paused. “But I guess we have to.”

It occurred to the blue-haired teen then that Demetri had likely been sitting with Miguel not because he enjoyed hanging out in the entryway, but to _watch out_ for him. Maybe to make sure the karate champ didn’t bolt out the door in some insane attempt to go find his ex-girlfriend, or something. 

Feeling annoyed suddenly, Hawk took in a deep breath and released it slowly as he looked back and took stock of the living room and what he could see of the house beyond it.

Demetri was right. Most of the several teenagers Hawk had given a ride to, who he was supposed to cart home, were out for the count. They looked way too drunk to drop off at their homes without worrying about the strong possibility of alerting their parents and causing a lot of stupid and unnecessary drama.

“Shit,” snapped Hawk, but before he could consider what to do next or let out a few more choice words to express his irritation, Demetri stood up.

“Hey!” he shouted. “Who needs a ride home? We’re going now.”

Mostly everyone ignored the scrawny teen. There was no response other than a few palpable groans, and a couple embracing next to the heavy bookcase in one corner who paused in their kissing to shake their heads in the negative before swiftly getting back to their business.

“Shut _up_ , Demetri,” came Aisha’s voice and Hawk watched as the girl stood from where she’d been sitting at one end of the puffy couch. 

“Excuse _me,_ ” shot back Demetri and he made that haughty little frown face he always made when he thought someone in his vicinity was being supremely stupid. “I’m trying to get everyone’s attention so that we can get them home. You know, home safely? Like not dead?”

Aisha glared, and Hawk tensed. Demetri was really smart in some ways and a complete idiot in others. Aisha had been in Cobra Kai before Hawk had, and she had a generally short fuse, and even _he_ knew to retreat when it looked like she was getting angry. She could be…intimidating. 

Before the conversation could escalate into something more serious, the blue-haired teen stepped in front of his taller friend, partially obscuring his glaring teammate’s view of the geek, and hopefully also discouraging Demetri from saying anything else.

Aisha rolled her eyes. Hawk wasn’t sure why. 

“We’re leaving,” he said simply, dismissing her eye roll as simply due to her general annoyance with his too gangly and too mouthy for his own good friend. “Everything going to be ok here?”

The girl nodded. She still looked frustrated.

“I’m not stupid. I collected keys from everyone who has a car and who looked like they were at risk of getting too smashed to drive _hours_ ago. Most of them already gave cover stories to their families, too.” 

She gestured in Miguel’s direction with the same hand she was gripping a can of Mountain Dew with (evidently, she was being responsible and not drinking at her own party). The dark-haired karate champion had apparently moved as soon as Demetri had stood up, and was now curled up on the bench. He was still loosely gripping the now empty beer bottle in one hand, and he was snoring.

“They can crash here. My parents won’t be back for two days.” She flashed a smile that was mostly teeth. “And, bonus, they can all help me clean this mess up in the morning.”

Hawk was pretty sure most of them were going to be extremely sick and hungover the next morning. They definitely would not be up to helping Aisha scrub any carpet stains that might have appeared overnight, or up to picking up the alarming number of plastic cups and bottles that had accumulated (he didn’t think they had bought _that_ much booze when they’d stopped at the mini mart for it after their nachos). But he didn’t voice his thoughts.

After all the young woman, being the rather forceful person she was, might very well convince (scare) some of the newer or younger Cobra Kai members to clean her house in the morning.

Hawk didn’t care. Right now, all he wanted was to get out of there. He was, unfortunately, not even buzzed enough to feel pleasant and warm and the slightest bit numb. He only felt tired, and sort of sore now in all the places he’d been punched and kicked during the tournament.

“Yeah, ok. Cool.” He turned away from the girl and found himself facing a slightly too close Demetri.

“So…” the brunette dragged out the word before trailing off. “They’ll be ok then?”

He looked nervous and unsure but Hawk was _done_. Aisha was taking responsibility. That was good enough for him.

Without answering, the mohawked teen placed one palm flat on Demetri’s chest and shoved. It was just enough force to cause the geek to stumble back and away a few steps.

Ignoring the other teenager’s angry sputtering, he reached for his hoodie, which was hanging along with a myriad of other thin sweaters and jackets and purses on the coat rack next to the front door, and pulled it on.

He checked the pockets, found the keys to his mom’s Sentra. Technically, he wouldn’t have his license for another week or so but he’d managed to convince his parents to let him take the car that morning. It hadn’t been hard, Hawk had always been a good student and a good kid, so they trusted him. 

“Let’s go,” he said and saluted Aisha before pulling open the door.

It was surprisingly cool outside for a May evening in California. Night had fallen hours ago and it was so late now that even the sound of traffic in the distance was mostly absent, and most of the houses on the obviously wealthy street were dark and quiet. As he started walking, heading for the Sentra that was parked curbside across the street from the large house, the motion light flickered on and flooded the area with brightness.

Beside him, Demetri gasped.

Hawk stopped walking.

Demetri kept going until he was standing right in front of the SUV, which was parked in the crowded driveway along with a number of other cars and trucks that belonged to the partygoers. Hawk wasn't sure who exactly owned the white SUV they were staring at. Scrawled across the side of the vehicle that was facing them in large, messy, bright red letters were the words COBRA KAI SUCKS. The red looked like spray paint.

The motion light had illuminated several vandalized cars and trucks, most with similar messages painted across their sides. Some of the vehicles had what looked like gobs of shaving cream dripping from their side-view mirrors. There was also, in the several trees that decorated the front yard, an alarming amount of toilet paper caught and tangled in the branches. Eggs, possibly rotten judging by the faint unpleasant odor that permeated the yard, had been thrown at car windows and onto the driveway itself and had broken open and left a sticky, disgusting mess that encompassed the entire yard and driveway.

“What the _fuck_!” Hawk said it so loudly and with so much venom that he noticed Demetri flinch before turning to look back at him with huge eyes. 

Aisha came to the door. There was a very inebriated but slightly more aware now Miguel, leaning heavily on her shoulder, at her side.

 _Seriously_ , thought Hawk as he spun slowly around to take it all in, to see if he had missed any of the damage.

_What. The. Fuck._


	2. Chapter 2

Hawk was seething, and it was making Demetri nervous.

The lanky brunette gripped the steering wheel more tightly. He checked the rearview mirror, then the side-view mirror, then quickly glanced back and forward again before changing lanes.

“You drive like my fucking grandma,” commented Hawk from the passenger seat. The mohawked teenager had on dark sunglasses that Demetri had, in all of the years they had known each other, never before seen the other teen wear. The passenger side sun visor was down, and his friend was leaning heavily against the door, with his head in one hand.

The guy had awoken that morning with a pounding headache. This was not at all surprising to Demetri, considering the fact that Hawk had downed at least a few red Solo cups worth of booze at the party the night before, and the fact that they had both been roped into helping with the cleanup of Aisha’s ruined yard before finally leaving her house in the wee hours of the morning.

They were both very, very tired. Hence them being on their way to get coffee.

Demetri didn’t offer a reply to the quip. He could tell by the way the other teen bit out the words and by the way he kept the hand that wasn’t holding his head clenched into a tight fist on his lap, that Hawk was barely containing his anger. He was looking for a fight.

Demetri, on the other hand, did not want a fight. The night before, while devouring nachos at the restaurant, the brunette had held his tongue and had not replied when his blue-haired friend had snapped at him for mentioning the whole computer camp, coding competition, and binary brothers thing in front of Aisha and a few other Cobra Kai members (who had all laughed).

He had not wanted to ruin the celebratory mood or provoke Hawk. And now, he still wasn’t looking to provoke anything. All the lanky teen wanted to do was get some coffee and then _finally_ go home.

“Not here,” ordered the slightly shorter teen as they approached a Starbucks with a drive-thru line so long it was nearly spilling out into the actual road. “I’m not waiting all day.” He sat up straight then and rolled his shoulders.

The casual move, for no reason Demetri could pinpoint, made his stomach flutter uncomfortably. He ignored the sensation and instead focused on the car in front of them. The old woman driving it kept tapping her breaks.

Hawk pointed. “There,” he said and the tall teen saw that his friend was pointing at an actual, old-fashioned diner. The place was tacky looking, with a neon sign in one window that was flashing OPEN. The words _Smitty’s Diner_ dominated the space above the door in bold and bright letters.

“ _There?_ ” asked Demetri, just to make sure, as he flipped on the blinker and made the turn into the surprisingly crowded parking lot. “But…”

“Come on,” interrupted Hawk before the brunette could finish his thought. He unclicked his seatbelt, pulled off his sunglasses, and stuffed them into the glovebox. He popped open the car door as soon as Demetri had slid the Sentra into a free spot near the front of the diner.

The blue-haired teen got out of the car and headed for the entrance to the restaurant. Demetri sighed, put the vehicle in park, and followed his friend.

“Here,” he said when he caught up to the other boy, and Hawk held out one hand as he pushed open the swinging door for them with the other. He caught and pocketed the keys the gangly teen gave him. 

“We’re going to _eat_ here? I thought you were in a hurry to get coffee. You know to help get rid of your, uh, hangover headache?” The tall teenager was a little surprised, and also a little disappointed. The day and night previous, during the tournament and even after that when he had spent time with his friend and the rest of Cobra Kai, had actually been a lot of fun up until everyone at the party had started to get a little _too_ drunk near the end of the night. And, of course, up until they had discovered the many vandalized cars and Aisha’s trashed front yard.

Despite being really tired, he had gone along with helping to clean up the mess. And despite not technically being able to legally drive yet he also hadn’t argued when Hawk had insisted Demetri had to drive them both home after the party (which had actually meant staying over at the _Moskowitz_ house that night, until the blue-haired teen had sobered up enough to drive him home in the morning). Heck, he hadn’t even argued this morning when the self-proclaimed badass karate teen had once again thrown him the keys to Mrs. Moskowitz’s Sentra.

“Just to get coffee for this _fucking_ headache,” he had promised Demetri. “Then I’ll drive you home.” 

Demetri’s mom was always encouraging him to go out, see people, and do something other than watch old Game of Thrones episodes or read comic books. But even she was probably getting a little anxious about him being gone with his friends for so long now, with no communication other than the few texts he’d sent her way. Not to mention _he_ kind of wanted to get home, shower, and change his clothes. Hawk had thankfully had an extra brand new, still-in-the-wrapping toothbrush he had used that morning, but the only clean piece of clothing he was wearing was the large, red and black hoodie his mohawked friend had given him to wear because the brunette’s shirt from the night before had had a Mr. Pibb stain on it.

They walked inside. To the immediate left of the door was a jukebox, which was (too loudly for eight in the morning) playing an upbeat song from probably the 50s or 60s. To the right of the door was a claw machine, filled with an assortment of colorful stuffed animals waiting to be won.

“I am in a hurry,” said Hawk as he frowned and shot a look around, apparently taking in the various waitresses milling around in too-short skirts and the families sitting at many of the booths and tables in the place, eating and talking and laughing. “Which is why we’re getting coffee to go. My parents like to come here all the time. They’ll be quick, and the coffee is cheap and strong.”

Hawk pulled out his wallet and shoved a ten into Demetri’s hand. “Extra large. To go. Black. Get whatever you want – that mocha shit or whatever.”

Finally feeling fed up with his domineering friend, the brunette took a deep breath. “Why don’t _you –_ “

But before he could finish Hawk had already walked away. It looked like he was headed for the crane game. 

Demetri turned, walked up to the counter, and recited his order to a blond waitress who had her hair pulled up into a ponytail.

“No problem,” she told him once she had handed him the change. “Just wait right here, hon. It’ll only take a sec.”

Demetri stared for a moment at the tempting pastries on display behind glass beside him, before turning.

He spotted his friend, attempting to win a plush animal he probably didn’t want or need. When the mohawked teen let out a frustrated growl and banged his fists against the machine the brunette slid his gaze away and –

He groaned when he spotted Johnny Lawrence.

The blond man was in a booth. He was sitting across from a very intimidating older man with bulging muscles, chiseled features, and gray hair.

“Here you go,” came the waitress’s cheery voice from behind him.

Demetri thanked the woman, grabbed the two extra-large coffees, and quickly made his way over to the blue-haired teen.

He was kind of hoping that they could get out of there before the other boy noticed his sensei.

He came to a stop next to Hawk, just as the other teen let out a whoop of victory. The claw had grabbed onto a small, bright red stuffed animal. The claw released the prize into the prize shoot and the mohawked teen retrieved it.

“Can we go now?” asked Demetri, feeling suddenly even more tired than he had very early that morning. 

“Yeah,” the slightly shorter teen took the large paper cup Demetri held out. “Whatever.”

The moment he spotted Mr. Lawrence was obvious. The fire, the pure rage that had been present in his stare and in his every move the previous night after they had stumbled upon the SUV with the words COBRA KAI SUCKS painted in sloppy letters across its side flashed again in his eyes. Hawk had raged then at him and Aisha and even at the too-drunk-to-follow-along Miguel about how they needed to find out _who had done this,_ and about getting revenge. 

The morning sun, or perhaps the headache he’d been suffering from had seemed to only slightly deflate Hawk’s anger and thoughts of revenge. But now, having spotted the Cobra Kai sensei himself, it was obvious those thoughts and that burn of anger were back in full force.

Hawk started towards his instructor. Reluctantly, the brunette followed his friend.

They stopped next to Johnny Lawrence’s table. Mr. Lawrence and the older, rather scary looking man sitting across from him looked annoyed and a little surprised at being interrupted.

“Sensei,” started Hawk immediately after they had stopped near the table. “What are we going to do about this? We can’t let it go unpunished…right?”

The blond instructor squinted and sort of frowned at them both like he didn’t recognize them. “Hawk?” he finally asked after an awkward moment and then he took what seemed to be a more calculating look at his student. “What the hell are you talking about? What the hell are you _doing_ here? Shouldn’t you be in school?”

“It’s summer,” both teenagers answered at once.

The blue-haired teen seemed to remember suddenly that he was holding a stuffed animal in one hand. He turned slightly (because Demetri had migrated to the space behind his friend’s shoulder in an attempt to stay as unnoticed as possible) and shoved the plush toy into the brunette’s free hand. “Here,” he said. “It’s yours.”

The taller teenager almost rolled his eyes. Because of course his friend would not want to be seen with a stuffed animal in front of the man who, according to Aisha and Miguel and Hawk himself, hammered it into his student’s heads that they needed to be _badass_ at all times and in every way possible _._

Both older men watched the exchange silently. Demetri gripped the stuffed animal. He turned it slightly to study it.

It was red and it was small. It was attached to one of those chunky plastic clips you were supposed to clip to a backpack or a large bag. It was a cobra.

_Oh_. And now Demetri understood why the crane machine had caught his best friend’s eye.

The mohawked teen seemed thrown by the blond man’s questions. “No one has told you?”

Mr. Lawrence frowned. “Look kid, I don’t know what you’re talking about. I’m trying to have an adult conversation here. Why don’t you and princess there run along and I’ll see you in class?”

Demetri frowned and his friend shot him a quick glance he couldn’t read. _Of course_ the Cobra Kai sensei remembered their brief encounter all those months ago.

The first time (and the last time, for the lanky teen) he and Hawk had attended a Cobra Kai class had been right after Miguel had totally kicked Kyler’s ass in the school cafeteria. Demetri (in an attempt to defend his best friend) had pointed out to Mr. Lawrence that he shouldn’t make fun of a person’s physical appearance. In response the blond sensei had humiliated him by forcing an unskilled Demetri to try and go hand to hand against him, before asking him _‘Is that all you got, princess?’_ in front of all of the other students, and then proceeding to literally flip him onto the floormat.

“Sensei, you don’t understand. We got _pranked_ last night. We were targeted and basically _attacked_.” Hawk went on, seemingly oblivious to how distracted the blond man appeared to be. 

Shifting from foot to foot behind his friend’s shoulder, anxious to leave the diner and head home already, Demetri shook his head. He also, since his hands weren’t free, moved to bump his shoulder into his friend’s shoulder. Just to prompt him to hurry up.

Instantly, the blue-haired teen reached out and slightly back with the hand that wasn’t holding his coffee and gripped onto Demetri’s right shoulder. He didn’t squeeze hard or twist or push him away in annoyance. He simply held onto the taller teenager’s shoulder, fingers firm but not digging in, as if to hold him in place.

Normally, lately, with the way his friend had changed over the months and considering the way he now sometimes (often) snapped at Demetri for being too nerdy, or for just saying something he didn’t like, the brunette would have been nervous and somewhat intimidated that his friend had grabbed his shoulder in an iron grip.

Now, however, the lanky teen was feeling really tired and annoyed.

“Come on, Eli,” he said without missing a beat. Exhausted with the entire situation he allowed his neck to relax and drop to one side. The end result being that he was pressed cheek-to-Hawk’s-hand for a few brief seconds while he leaned to one side and mimicked falling asleep on his feet. He closed his eyes for the briefest of moments before moving his neck back to its normal position and standing up straight. “He obviously doesn’t care. Let’s go.”

Hawk didn’t even look back at him. Johnny Lawrence, still looking annoyed and bothered by the fact that he was being confronted outside of the dojo by one of his students, stared at them. In a quick movement, his light eyes followed the mohawked teen’s outstretched arm to where it stopped, fingers gripping, at Demetri’s shoulder.

The older man, whoever he was, watched Johnny and the entire exchange silently from his seat.

“What are you talking about?” the blond finally asked and the blue-haired teen immediately latched on to the question.

“Last night. A few of us were just…celebrating at Aisha’s house after the tournament. You know, uh, just listening to music and stuff…”

The blond instructor didn’t react to that. Demetri was pretty sure the guy was the kind of adult who didn’t care at all that his students had been drinking heavily the night before.

“And?” prompted the sensei when Hawk hesitated, probably unsure how much information he should reveal. The partygoers had not called the cops the night before to report the vandalism and all of Cobra Kai had agreed not to tell their parents about the incident. Even Aisha, who had had her actual house targeted, was not going to tell her mom and dad.

“They trashed Aisha’s yard with toilet paper in the trees and rotten eggs and shit all over her parent’s driveway. Not to mention those assholes, whoever they were, actually spray-painted Cobra Kai sucks on a bunch of our cars. Not mine, because it was parked across the street but- “

Demetri, absently after taking a long sip of coffee, cut in. “And _technically_ it turned out to not actually be spray paint. It came off when we all scrubbed at it really hard while we were cleaning. But it was still _really_ inconvenient. Some of your students had to actually take their car to a car wash in order to get it all off.”

The blond man’s eyes moved briefly to the lanky teen (who kind of regretted speaking, but he couldn’t help himself most times when an opportunity arose) before landing back on Hawk, who now seemed to be practically vibrating with anger.

Hawk continued. “And worst of all Sensei Lawrence, they didn’t even confront us. They didn’t even leave some kind of calling card so we would know who they are. They just did all that shit to our stuff and Aisha’s yard when we were distracted…and ran away.”

His fury was obvious and it made Demetri anxious. It wasn’t like his best friend had never been angry around him before. It was just that, since he had become a Cobra Kai, he had been _quick_ to anger. And more volatile. He now always, when pissed off, seemed on the verge of absolutely exploding.

The brunette didn’t like that feeling. He didn’t like not knowing when or if Hawk would fly off the handle, and what exactly he would do or how far he would go if he did.

“Oh my god,” said the blond man. He actually sounded serious, which was surprising to Demetri. “They sound like a bunch of- “

“Cowards,” cut in the oldest man at the table. The way his hard eyes had followed all three of them as they spoke made Demetri even more tense and anxious (if that was possible).

“Pussies,” finished Mr. Lawrence and he gave the older man a look that was somewhere between a glare and something searching.

“Definitely pussies,” he said in a decisive tone and then addressed the blue-haired teen directly. “Listen,” he said and Hawk leaned closer, apparently caught on his sensei’s every word.

Demetri sort of cringed inside. He couldn’t help himself.

“You have to find out who did it, ok? I agree that these bunch of pussies are asking for it but we need to know who it was before we can totally kick their asses, right?”

Hawk nodded enthusiastically.

Mr. Lawrence nodded, too. “Ok. So, find out. And stop bothering me. I’ll see you in class.”

The mohawked teen didn’t seem deterred or upset by the dismissal. The slightly shorter teen just nodded, his eyes narrowing into a determined and fearsome expression.

Mr. Lawrence and the other, older man went back to glaring at each other across the table (which was…weird). They were completely ignoring the two teenagers standing next to their table now.

Hawk squeezed the lanky teen’s shoulder briefly before finally letting go. “Ok,” he echoed his sensei and took a few steps away from the table. “So- “

He was cut off by the blond man’s phone ringing behind them. Briefly, as he took another swallow of coffee, the brunette turned to see the man had pulled out an old-fashioned flip phone that he answered with a curt _‘yeah?’_.

Hawk was already starting for the door. Demetri moved to follow, excited now about finally getting home and taking a long shower and maybe binge-watching something on Netflix. 

“Hawk!” shouted Mr. Lawrence suddenly, just as the mohawked teen was pushing open the door for them. “Meet me at the dojo. And tell Miguel and the others to be there, too.”

Hawk turned. “But…why? We don’t have class again until Wednesday.”

The blond man stood. He leaned close to the older man, who was still sitting and said something in a tone too low to hear. But it was definitely something vicious and sharp, judging by the expressions on both of their faces when he pulled away

The sensei started walking and Demetri hurried to catch up to Hawk. They all three, one after another, came bursting out of the diner door. They were back in the parking lot.

“It’s the dojo. Someone attacked it.”

_“Attacked_ it?” asked Demetri.

“Like spray-painted the windows and shit, I guess. I don’t know.” He pointed at Hawk. “Just meet me there.”

The mohawked teen’s eyes were pure fury. “It’s gotta’ be the same assholes. Whoever- “

But the karate sensei was already gone, heading for his car.

Hawk visibly clenched his teeth. He retrieved his keys from his pocket and headed for the Sentra. 

“Um…” Demetri said, as his friend unlocked the car and started the engine.

“Get in,” ordered the blue-haired teen and Demetri complied. Almost as soon as they had both placed their cups into the cupholders Hawk backed out of the parking spot. “Text Miguel and Aisha, and whoever else from Cobra Kai you can. Tell them to get to the dojo. Now.”

The brunette, silently, tucked the cobra toy next to him on the seat and reached for his cellphone. 

He wanted to tell his friend he did not want to be involved in this crazy Cobra Kai stuff. He wanted to tell his friend that he and Mr. Lawrence were both overreacting.

But even he had to admit it was pretty strange that the dojo had been vandalized now as well. 

_Who’s doing this?_ he wondered. And as the car pulled back out into traffic, he resigned himself to another afternoon of Cobra Kai company.

_Great,_ he thought, shooting a sideways glance at his slightly shorter friend and studying the other teenager’s fuming profile. He sighed.

_Just…great._


	3. Chapter 3

Hawk parked and got out of the car. Sensei was already surveying the damage done, cursing loudly and running his hands through his hair in a rough, stressed manner, causing a few blond tufts to stick up oddly. “What the _hell_?” was the first clear thing the blue-haired teenager heard as he approached the man and took in the damage to the dojo himself.

“Huh.” Demetri came up behind them both. Without looking back, Hawk could tell that his friend was again hovering close to his shoulder. “More paint.”

The brunette was right. There was more of what appeared to be the same drippy, not-spray paint. In sloppy, large, red letters the words CHEATS, BAD SPORTS, and SUCKS (the last had been positioned in just the right spot so that the normal Cobra Kai lettering plus the drippy word blended to form the now too familiar COBRA KAI SUCKS message) were scrawled all over the glass front wall and the glass door leading into the dojo. 

The door, near the bottom edge, was broken. The glass was shattered inwards like maybe someone had kicked it. There were also a few eggs, broken and with their slimy contents smeared unappealingly across the ground, scattered around. These ones were not rotten as far as the Mohawked teen could tell, but they had been thrown hard against the pavement in front of the dojo and had broken open. There were even random gobs of shave cream and a few scraps of toilet paper around, hanging from the handle of the door or wadded up outside the karate school in various haphazard piles – but the vandalizer, apparently, had been at a loss about what else to do with the toilet paper because in totality there wasn’t very much of it.

“Woah,” came Miguel’s voice and the blue-haired teen turned to see that the boy had pulled up on his bike. “Who is _doing_ this?”

“How did you get here so fast?” asked Demetri as Miguel parked and secured his bike. The dark-haired teen was moving very slowly and was wearing dark sunglasses similar to the ones Hawk himself had dawned that morning after waking up with the headache from hell.

The dark-haired teen shrugged. “My yaya was the one who saw it happening. She was headed home from grabbing a few groceries at the mini-mart and saw someone, someone dressed in all black she said, painting the windows.”

Demetri frowned and shook his head. “Someone _all in black_? In broad daylight? And on a hot day like this? That’s not exactly…stealthy.”

“Well,” said Miguel. “I guess some people dress like that. _You’re_ wearing a hoodie, right? On a hot day.” He paused and stared at what was actually Hawk’s oversized red and black hoodie. Demetri pushed up the sleeves of the hoodie to his elbows, possibly remembering he _was_ feeling too warm. “Or…maybe they weren’t trying to be stealthy?” ventured Miguel after a long moment.

But Hawk caught on to another detail. “Your grandma called Sensei?”

At glacier speed, as if it pained him (it probably did, the mohawked teen was honestly surprised the karate champion had managed to get out of bed much less bike to the dojo) Miguel turned his head to face Hawk. “No. My mom did. She has Sensei’s number.”

Miguel’s mom had Sensei Lawrence’s _cell_ number? Everyone and their parent probably had the office number, but not the Cobra Kai instructor’s _personal_ number.

Hawk blinked and then watched as the blond man finally got the door open and stepped carefully inside the dojo.

“Oh shit!” The blue-haired teenager turned to find a gaping Aisha walking up from the parking lot to meet them. Behind her, sitting behind the wheel of a car too flashy for any average sixteen-year-old, was Samantha LaRusso.

Immediately, Hawk felt his hackles rise. “What is _she_ doing here?” The words came out sharp and biting.

Aisha shrugged. “We were getting breakfast when you called. We were _planning_ to go to the country club together today before Demetri texted me. She offered to give me a ride here.” Aisha had quite obviously been ready for a day of swimming or at least a day of hanging out next to a pool. She was wearing sandals and shorts and the kind of flowy, oversized shirt that girls sometimes wore over bathing suits. 

“Sam,” said Miguel in a breathy sort of voice. 

And suddenly, as the blue-haired teen glanced momentarily away from the girl who was still in her car and staring at them all to glare at the rhapsodizing karate champ, all three of his companions turned to look at the wavy-haired young woman.

Hawk clenched his fists and barely resisted the urge to punch Miguel _hard_ in the shoulder.

For what felt like a very long and awkward moment everyone just…stared.

And then, tentatively, Demetri raised his hand and waved at Sam. 

This time the mohawked teen didn’t resist. He reached out, grabbed Demetri’s wayward wrist, and proceeded to pull the lanky dork towards the dojo’s entrance. He paused when he got to the door. 

_Huh._

There were a few blue paint marks mingled with the red. He could make out the mostly faded letters O and N spaced widely apart, and the letters ULES below that, but the rest of whatever had been painted there looked like it had been swiftly and efficiently wiped away.

_Rules?_ he wondered as he allowed his now obviously annoyed and red-faced friend to pull free from his grip and step by him and over the glass to enter the dojo.

“Ow,” Demetri complained as soon as they were standing inside. Both Miguel and Aisha had hurried in after them. Sam was gone now. The blue-haired teen could see that her nice car had been replaced with another Cobra Kai student’s old pickup truck. 

“Why did you do _that_?” demanded the brunette, and Hawk could tell just by his tone that they had gone beyond friendly teasing or ribbing and had entered the realm of actually being pissed off at each other (or at least his brunette friend now seemed genuinely pissed off at _him_ ) once again. 

_Fuck,_ he thought. He was not in the mood for this. He had enough to deal with, now that Cobra Kai was being targeted by…some lame asshole, apparently. They had actually written the words BAD SPORTS across the glass outside. The mohawked teen was surprised Sensei or one of the other students hadn’t pointed out how incredibly freaking lame that was. Almost laughably lame.

_Almost._

Instead of answering, Hawk countered with a question of his own. He spoke in a low voice so Miguel wouldn’t hear. “Why did y _ou_ wave? She mangled Miguel’s heart and you want to be her friend?”

Demetri sighed. His shoulders visibly dropped. He seemed tired.

“Not friend. I don’t even really know her. I’m just trying not to be a total jerk. And also, I’m pretty sure it was all a misunderstanding with Miguel. He seems to still- “

“Just _don’t_ ok?” Hawk was irritated and he wasn’t even completely sure why. “Don’t talk to her. She isn’t one of us.”

“Um. You can’t actually tell me what to do, you know?” Demetri’s tone was light but unquestionably serious. “Besides, Aisha talks to her. And what do you mean _us_?”

Hawk squeezed his hands, which were at his sides, into fists so tight that he could feel his nails making grooves in his skin.

He leaned closer to his friend and practically growled the answer. “Cobra. Kai.”

The brunette took a slow step backward. “But _I’m_ not Cobra Kai, Eli.”

Sensei brushed by them. He had a bucket filled to the brim with what looked like wet rags in one hand and a broom in the other. He shoved a rag at Demetri and the broom at Hawk before quickly walking away.

“And yet here I am, cleaning their dojo…” The tall teenager’s voice trailed off before he looked Hawk in the eye. “I need to go home after this. _Please_. I need a shower and a good comic book in that order.” He looked around at the couple of other kids trickling in to grab supplies and help clean. “I guess no one is reporting this incident to the police either? No? Too logical?” He wandered back outside, presumably to start scrubbing. The door shut behind him.

The blue-haired teenager didn’t move for a moment. He just gripped the broom. He could feel himself scowling. He could also see into the parking lot beyond the ruined glass. It was vacant except for a smattering of empty cars and the big-mouthed homeless woman who tended to hang out in front of the mini-mart.

_No, scratch that_ , thought Hawk.

At least one of the parked cars, a blue van, wasn’t empty. The homeless woman was slowly moving closer to the occupied vehicle while visibly shouting and pointing at the somewhat plump, dark-haired soccer mom type who was sitting behind the van’s steering wheel. The soccer mom kept glancing into her back seat, probably to check on the groceries or the takeout food she had just bought from one of the surrounding businesses. She was probably worried the homeless woman would attack her and steal her groceries or even her car. She looked anxious and harassed as she started up her engine and drove hastily away.

The mohawked teen snorted. Cobra Kai, being the absolute badass dojo it was, should definitely work towards acquiring a better location. Not that they needed one in order to continue being awesome, but…

“He’s right, Eli.”

Hawk tried to hide his flinch of surprise. Then, realizing what he’d just heard, he shoved at the guilty party’s shoulder. “ _Hawk_ ,” he demanded.

Bert, his short and skinny teammate, was at his side. He watched as the light-haired kid quickly caught his balance and recovered from the harsh shove. The boy frowned deeply at him before reaching up to straighten his slightly askew glasses. 

“What the hell are you talking about?”

“Demetri,” Bert answered. “I just happened to hear him say he wasn’t Cobra Kai. And, yeah, he’s right. He isn’t. I know you guys are friends or whatever. But…what exactly is he doing _here_?”

He said it casually, but Hawk tensed.

“Oh him?” cut in Aisha, as if appearing from thin air. She was suddenly standing next to them. She laughed what sounded like a forced, short laugh. “He’s our mascot. Don’t worry about him.” She gave the short boy a friendly pat on the shoulder.

“But- “began Bert and Aisha’s eyes got wide.

“She said don’t worry. So, don’t _fucking_ worry about him, got it?” His voice had grown steadily louder as he spoke. So much so that he had yelled the last sentence. A few students stopped what they were doing and stared at him.

Then, all at once, Sensei came bursting out of his small office, shouting at everyone to get back to work. Apparently, according to the blond man, cleaning the mess up was now part of their training.

“I was just wondering if he was finally _joining_ ,” muttered Bert before he quickly retreated, heading off towards the bucket of rags (which was now on the floor near the door). Aisha and the rest of the students scrambled away as well.

Hawk’s phone buzzed. He pulled it from his back pocket and saw it was a text from Moon, asking if the trip to Golf N’ Stuff they had planned for the next day was still on. He stared blankly at the smiley and heart emojis she had included at the end of her text. 

He felt sick to his stomach suddenly and his headache, which had only been a dull annoyance since he had downed his black coffee in the car on the way to the dojo, was back with a vengeance. He almost wanted to reply that the date was off. But Moon was _hot_ , and going mini-golfing with her the next day would probably equate to _making out_ with her at some point the next day…both good things. 

He was angry about all of the fucking vandalism. He was angry about someone actually daring to mess with Cobra Kai. That’s why he had snapped at Bert, that’s why he was now (stupidly) thinking about turning down Moon.

_No._

Sensei Lawrence had told him, back at the restaurant that morning, to find the asshole who had messed with their cars and with Aisha’s front yard (the same asshole or assholes who had targeted the dojo this morning), because they couldn’t put a stop to it and kick ass if they didn’t know _whose_ ass to kick. So, Hawk was going to do exactly that. He was going to find out who had done this, and he was going to make them regret what they had done.

Maybe he could convince the shapely girl that they should invite friends. He would invite Miguel and a few other Cobra Kai students and kill two birds with one stone – make out with Moon _and_ start brainstorming suspects with his teammates. 

He took a deep breath, sent a quick reply text to the hippy bombshell, and then moved to finally sweep up all of the broken glass near the door.

A slow-moving Miguel was now in his orbit. The dark-haired teen wasn’t actually doing anything other than holding a dripping rag and looking like he was trying very hard not to puke. “You know,” he started as if they had already been in the middle of a conversation and Hawk wondered if he was about to get an earful about the way he had snapped at Bert. 

“Yeah?” asked Hawk as he finished sweeping the glass into a neat pile.

“Demetri told me congratulations, basically, after the tournament yesterday.”

The blue-haired teen felt his grip tighten on the broom again. He was unsure where this was going. What was Miguel trying to say? Demetri hadn’t found _him_ after the final match to congratulate him on anything, probably because he had been disqualified for kicking Robby Keene from behind in the shoulder. Miguel bringing up the tournament unexpectedly summoned that uncomfortable, infuriating, and fresh memory. It was something he wanted to avoid thinking about.

He detached the dustpan from where it was clipped onto the broom handle and swept up the glass, then walked quickly over to the trashcan in one corner of the room and emptied the glass into it. He clipped the dustpan back on and leaned the broom against the wall.

Miguel had followed him. 

“And?” he prompted.

The dark-haired teen stared blankly at the trashcan Hawk had dumped the glass into, then moved his gaze to the wall. “I mean, I was kind of distracted and looking for Sam when he came up to me. I needed to talk to her. I _still_ need to talk to her.”

The mohawked teen grit his teeth when his friend paused. He wished the karate champ would get to the point already. He could see that the several kids that had gone outside had made good progress with cleaning the window. He would do one more pass with the broom for broken glass near the door, before maybe trying to find some cardboard and duct tape so he could temporarily secure the shattered, bottom portion of the door until it could be fixed.

“Anyway, Demetri said he was reconsidering joining Cobra Kai.”

Hawk froze. “What?”

“Yeah, he said something about appreciating the safety in numbers aspect of a _gang_? I don’t know. You know how he talks. Maybe ask him about it. Maybe he wants to join now.”

Still not moving, the blue-haired teen blinked.

Miguel suddenly looked a little nervous. “Just…I know you’re always telling him you want him to join, you know? I know it matters to you.” He paused, then quickly started up again. “And me too. I mean, I’m the one who wanted you both to join in the first place.”

Finally, in an effort to acknowledge he’d heard what his friend had said, he nodded. 

Demetri hadn’t said anything to _him_ about joining. But maybe that was because of all the vandalism. Maybe all the chaos of last night and this morning had distracted him or even scared him off. Or maybe the taller teen was just mad at him for making him drive when he didn’t officially have his license or something inane like that so hadn’t said anything to him yet. His best friend showing an interest in finally joining the dojo that was such a huge and crucial part of Hawk’s now incredibly badass life was…promising.

Hawk, since the end of the tournament, had been feeling dissatisfied. Even _before_ all of the vandalism had started, he hadn’t felt what he had expected to feel when it was over. When Miguel had won (because _he’d_ been disqualified), when they’d gone for victory nachos surrounded by teammates (but Demetri, his oldest friend, _wasn’t_ a teammate), when they’d celebrated with beers and music at Aisha’s house ( _everythin_ g had changed but nothing that really _mattered_ had changed, he remembered thinking while downing his second beer).

None of it had felt like Hawk thought it was supposed to feel. None of it had been as satisfying as it should have been. And that, coupled with Cobra Kai being targeted by some unknown pussies, had made Hawk very, very angry.

But now…now he _could_ be satisfied. He _would_ be.

He smirked.

The next day was going to be a very good day. It would be a kick-ass day. He was going to see his not-quite-girlfriend again, he was going to collaborate with his badass friends, he was finally going to talk a now more susceptible Demetri into officially joining the dojo, and he was going to move at least one step closer to kicking the ass of whoever had dared to mess with Cobra fucking Kai.

“Um. Sensei?” asked Miguel, who was still hovering around Hawk gripping a sopping wet rag. “What happened to the wall? And that broken mirror? And why are the mats wet? Did the sprinklers go off because there was a fire? Did whoever- “

Sensei Lawrence, who had emerged from his office yet again and who seemed to be surveying his students and their progress, shook his head. “Oh. That. No, that was me and Kreese. Don’t worry I, uh, totally kicked his ass.”

The mohawked teen frowned at the blackened wall behind him, feeling a little lost. He hadn’t immediately noticed the now blatantly obvious damage inside the dojo. He had been too focused on all of the other damage, and on his own thoughts.

“Who?” both he and Miguel asked the blond man in unison.

Sensei turned to them and shook his head. “No one. Never mind. What are you two doing, anyway? _Get to work!_ ”

They did.


End file.
